Fragile Wings
by Raven and Writing Desks
Summary: He is a scoundrel and a troublemaker. She is sunshine personified, and then, she is gone. AU. Rivetra
1. Prologue

**Fragile Wings**

Prologue

* * *

He sits in the stuffy classroom, cheek resting on the desk and his music blasting through his headphones. Feeling a tapping on his head, he looks up to find Principle Erwin glaring down at him.

"Levi, no electronics allowed in detention." He holds out his palm expectedly. "Hand it over."

With an exasperated sigh, Levi yanks the headphones from his ears and places his small, black iPod in the principle's large hands.

Seeming content, Erwin walks to the front of the classroom and sits behind the desk.

Levi watches him with a bored expression as his tongue subconsciously plays with the metal hoop that pierces the left side of his bottom lip. He reads the chalked out word "Detention" scrawled across the chalkboard over and over again, tracing the letters with his eyes.

He is so sick of being confined to this small classroom with the same dull people. It reeks of B.O. and gym socks and is littered with the outcasts of their high school. However, with the school being so big, he can only recognize a few of them.

Annie, a lower class man that takes gym with him sits in the far corner taking a nap, her blonde hair blowing from the gust of the air conditioning. She always gets there early to grab the only spot in the room that is not blistering hot. Though, she reserves that right, after all, she is stuck in this room more often than him. _A fighter_.

On the complete other side of the room is Mikasa, a quiet, Asian girl with guarded eyes. She is in here occasionally, usually when somebody, usually Annie, picks on her foster brother or his wimpy friend. _A defender. _

Staring out the window longingly, long fingers drumming against the plastic-like wooden desktop, is Ymir. She scowls all the time, a characteristic she shares with Levi, and is always looking for something to be cynical about. _A rebel_.

The only other noteworthy person in the room is the blonde boy that seems to have a personality disorder. Levi can never remember his name, but he knows it starts with and 'R.'

"Reiner, sit back down," the principle says while looking up from his papers.

Oh right, Reiner Braun. _A recluse_.

Time and time again, Levi has been sentenced here for "inappropriate behavior" as the authority figures just love to label it. Though this time, it was just Mister Pixis being an ass.

Soon enough, the bell that signals four o'clock – and the end of detention – rings, and Levi lets out a sigh of relief. The others scramble to stand up, as per usual, and shove themselves into the hallway, away from the boring, oven of a room. Levi however, takes his time.

He retrieves his book bag from the floor and slings one of the black straps over his shoulder. Then, he saunters up to front of the room, a bored expression on his face, and waits expectantly in front of the principle.

"I presume you want your music player back?" Erwin says as he reaches into a drawer and pulls out the old mp3 player.

Levi makes to grab it, but the principle pulls it out of his reach at the last moment.

"Not so fast," he says, his thick, blonde eyebrows rising in amusement. "Come with me first."

Leading him down the nearly deserted hallways, the principle comes to a stop in front of an ordinary classroom door, it's cracked open and it sounds as if there is some sort of meeting going on.

"The fundraiser last week was a huge success."

Peeking in, he sees a girl from his gym class speaking to a group of kids from the school. She holds up a poster board with a drawing of a coffee cup that has the word 'goal' written on it in large letters.

Her amber eyes light up as she speaks, and the movement of her pale lips reveals perfect teeth.

"That is Miss Petra Ral," Erwin says, diverting Levi's attention from the view of the room and back to the hallway. "She is the founder and leader of the Survey Group, the school's volunteer and service program. You, Levi, are the group's newest member.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Levi bursts out, but quickly lowers his voice when he hears Petra stop speaking abruptly and realizes that everybody in the room just heard him.

"No, I'm not," the principle says before continuing in a more concerned tone, "Is everything okay at home?"

Levi responds with a bored expression. This man is the principle, not a fucking therapist; therefore, he does not have to discuss his home life with him.

"Look, I've seen your grades, you're smart, but universities also look at your behavior in school, and at this rate, your 4.1 GPA won't mean anything when compared with your detention record."

Levi looks away from the blonde principle and back to the girl in the room. Her gaze flits over to him, and the smile behind her eyes shines brighter.

"You will become an active member of the Survey Group and I will help clear up your record."

About to retort, Levi opens his mouth, but quickly shuts it when he realizes that the people in the room are stacking chairs and moving towards the door. They pass between the principle and himself, some pausing to shoot strange glances in his direction before quickly continuing down the hallway.

"Hi, Principle Erwin!" Petra's voice calls from the room where she is currently rolling up some posters and stowing them in one of the cabinets.

"Hello, Miss Ral, I see that last week's coffee shop worked out well for you."

"Yes it did!" She chirps out as she continues fluttering around the room, her copper hair practically floating behind her. "Thank you for approving it."

"It was my pleasure, and your coffee was quite good."

"Glad to hear it," she smiles before turning to Levi. He finds his breath catching and his mood lightening at the pure goodness that radiates through her. "You must be Levi, we have gym together." She holds out a hand and Levi shakes it, ignoring the tingling that comes with the skin-to-skin contact.

"Well," Erwin states before moving towards the door, "I'll leave you two to sort out the details, and I'll see you later this evening, Miss Ral."

When the door shuts upon his departure, Levi's slate gaze moves to hers. "What did he mean by that?" The question is out before he can stop it, but Petra appears unperturbed.

"Oh, I work in the office as a secretary after hours." She shrugs it off and sits down on one of the tables, her legs – clad in cream-colored leggings – swinging back and forth. "Anyways, so you're joining the Survey Group?"

"I guess," Levi replies, reverting back to his bored tone and ignoring the movements of her body.

"Cool," she smiles. "We meet every Thursday after school until 4:30 here in room 104, and often have weekend projects two to three times a month."

She grabs the clipboard lying next to her and begins scanning over the paper. "Our next project is next weekend at the mall. We are setting up a baked goods and beverage stand in the food court to raise money for the local homeless shelter that we regularly support."

She hands him a stack of papers. "These are some of the flyers for upcoming events as well as some forms that I need you to fill out. My contact information is somewhere in there as well so you can text or email me if you have any questions."

Glancing down at everything, Levi gets the feeling that he might be in over his head. After all, it seems more like a full-out job than a simple volunteer project.

"I still have to tidy up here," Petra says gesturing to the array of flyers, posters, and other nonsense that litters the room, "So, I guess I'll see you next week." At this, she smiles and, yet again, it feels a hundred percent sincere. It causes a strange feeling to course through him and he wants to reach out and touch her.

Maybe he would have, if he had known what was to come.


	2. The Beginning

**_Fragile Wings_**

_The Beginning_

* * *

The rumble of the motorcycle engine beneath him is like music to his ears as he turns down the streets leading to home.

He lives a little ways away from the school in a part of town that is mainly occupied by the middle-class. There are three districts in his town, each known for the social status of its occupants. Sina is the wealthy part of town filled with extravagant homes and equally extravagant people. Rose is the next district, where Levi lives on the outer most part after recently moving up from the worst area of town, Maria.

Maria is the area that if a person does not live there, they will avoid it at all costs. This is where the lowlife thugs, gangs, and crack heads are found. Neighborhoods sit next to abandoned buildings. Homeless riddle the streets there and orphans beg on corners. Frankly, it is a dangerous area and very few make it out.

Pulling into his driveway, Levi parks his bike and removes the tinted helmet. His place is modest, small but better than the shithole apartment that he used to live in. Here he at least has some privacy from the more _personal _affairs of his uncle.

He enters the empty house and lights a cigarette, inhaling deeply and allowing the harsh taste of tobacco fill his mouth while the noxious smoke fills his lungs. Arriving in his bedroom, he grabs an ashtray and flicks the burnt tip.

His sits on his bed, unzips his book bag, and sorts through the contents. He starts with the top textbooks, working through the assignments he has due the next day. The work drags on as he scribbles in notebooks, types up essays, and highlights passages.

He continues this for another hour or so before stumbling across the stack of papers that Petra had given him. Little designs with big font printed on different colored papers advertise bake sales, car washes, and all matter of fundraisers, many he had seen hanging around the school on lockers and cork boards.

He eventually makes it to a stack of forms asking the basics of anybody signing up for a club: allergies, contact number, t-shirt size, etc. With a sigh he fills in the blanks and signs the bottom.

Arranging the sheets so that they form a neat pile, he walks over to set them on his desk, but a small card flits out from between the papers and falls to the floor. Picking it up, Levi realizes that it is Petra's contact information.

The front contains her name, number, and email address, but when he flips it to the back he sees a little note written in dainty script.

_Levi, I know that joining the group wasn't really your choice, but I'm really looking forward to working with you. Let me know if you need anything at all, and if I'm unavailable you can always flag me down in the halls._

__She had added a smiley face and sighed her name in loopy cursive, and despite himself, Levi smiles. He does not know what is with this girl. She is so genuinely good and pure that it even translates through paper. He shakes his head and begins the short trek to the kitchen, when he suddenly stops.

His uncle paces in the living room, yelling into his cellphone about somebody owing him something or other. Levi quietly slinks back to his room, not wanting to have to deal with his uncle's dirty work tonight.

"Levi!"

He mentally curses, but walks back to the living room and leans in the doorway.

"I need you to go take care of some trash in Maria district," he states, his tone hinting at his anger, as he fiddles with his favorite knife. It is a curved blade, one that Levi has seen slit many throats – though now it gleams and shines – it is still dyed in the blood of all its victims.

Levi nods in understand before grabbing the gun on the table and tucking it in the waistband of his pants.

* * *

Pulling into the rundown garage, she lets out the breath she had been holding. She locks up her steering wheel and goes through to make sure each of the doors are secure before entering the cramped home.

It is dark inside due to the sun having gone down long ago and all of the thick drapes having been drawn. She can smell the distinct scent of alcohol and pulls on the chain attached to a single light bulb in the middle of the room.

She walks over to the couch where the unconscious form of her father lays – kicking aside some of the empty bottles – and sets a small hand on his forehead. "Daddy," she says softly, hoping to rouse him gently.

His eyes crack open and seeing her face he manages a small smile. "Petra."

"Yes, Dad," she replies, propping one of his arms over her shoulder. "Let's get you to bed."

"Petra," he repeats, his breath reeking of the drink in his system. "You're such a good girl, just like your mother."

"Thank you, father," she murmurs back soothingly as they make their way to the bedroom, where Petra helps him get into bed.

"You deserve better than this," he slurs as he begins to drift off to sleep again.

"Go to sleep," Petra orders as she wraps the blankets around him. She smoothes back his dark hair and once he begins snoring softly, she exits the room. Grabbing a trash bag, she cleans up the combined kitchen and living room and by the time she is done the dark plastic is practically bursting so she takes it to the curb.

It is noisy outside. Babies are crying, engines are revving, and the neighbors are fighting. Though despite it all, she still finds herself sitting on the stone steps leading to the front door, and breathing in the cool night air.

She thinks of everything she still has to do. Write that English essay, call the mall to confirm the reserved space for the fundraiser, email Principal Erwin about approval for the afterschool raffle, call the animal shelter… the list goes on and on. Firstly, she decides as she looks down at her work uniform that reeks of greasy food, a shower.

She rises from her spot and heads back inside, just barely missing the sound of gunfire that erupts a block over.

* * *

His eyes keep seeking her out among the crowd of high school students. It is not like he is trying to find her; it is just that she keeps making herself more visible to him.

As they run laps, he notices the way she chats happily with other students. As he shoots the basketball, he notices her getting a drink from the fountain. As he exits the locker room, he finds himself facing her as she walks out of the girl's room at the same time.

"Hey," she says happily, with a small wave.

He nods in response, but does not say anything. She seems content with this as she walks away to her next class, and he notices the way she walks with a little bounce in her step.

Then at lunch he finds her once again. She sits on the exact opposite side of the cafeteria with some of the others he recognized from the Survey Group. She partly joins in with their conversations, but most of the time her eyes are glued to a textbook as she rushes through what appears to be assignments.

He looks away from her, deciding that it is not healthy to pay so much attention to one person.

The weekend comes and goes with nothing worth noting other than the fresh ink joining his sleeve tattoo and another late night run for his uncle.

The school week starts again and everywhere he goes, he finds himself perking up at the sight of ginger hair and decorative tights. He thinks it is her magnetic smile that radiates off of her, or maybe it is just her pretty face. Either way, the instant she is in his view, the scene becomes significantly brighter.

Thursday eventually comes and he is watching Petra again. Today, however, she sits on the sidelines in PE, wearing a pleated skirt and a pair of black tights rather than the standard grey uniform issued for gym class. She nibbles on the top of a pen as she writes in a notebook, most likely working on homework once again.

He has noticed that she always seems to be working on something, be it at lunch or between classes she had a notebook or textbook open. Almost as often, people are around her, chatting and joking with her, he has even heard some asking for her advice. The peculiar bit is that the clique boundaries firmly set around the school do not seem to affect her. Jocks, nerds, even outcasts mingle with her. If somebody approaches her, be it teacher or student, she gives them her sweet smile and carries on a conversation.

How somebody like her can truly exist, he does not know.

Cheerful, accepting, and warm like sunshine.

At lunch, Levi goes through the line and passively selects his meal. He pays, ignoring the prying eyes of the lunch lady as she eyes the ink on his arms and hoops through his skin. Then, he sits at his table, in the same spot since day one of high school.

The same crew sit around him, all looking burnt out and sick of this boring routine of life. This corner of the cafeteria is filled with darkly colored hoodies and baggy pants, the smell of smoke lingers around this crowd and for the most part, it is quiet.

As he picks at the food, he glances to that spot that he has repeatedly watched the past couple of days and finds the tell tale ginger hair. However, rather than scribbling answers to an assignment or laughing over a joke, her head is pillowed by her crossed arms and her eyes are closed.

The people around her smile when they notice her slumbering form, and the blonde girl sitting next to her rubs her back soothingly, as she hushes those nearby.

"Levi!"

His eyes snap away from Petra's table and to the girl that just screamed his name very loudly.

"Hange," Levi replies as he looks over at the wickedly grinning bespectacled woman.

"I've noticed you've been looking over there all week," she begins while twirling a piece of brown hair around her finger. "Who ya lookin at?"

"No one," Levi tells her as he skewers a piece of chicken with his fork.

"You know I don't believe that for a second."

Hange Zoe: eccentric, insane, and one of the only people that can truly read Levi. Their unlikely friendship had resulted from being science partners back in middle school. Ever since that first day when Levi allowed her to do the entire cutting portion in the frog dissection, he has been unable to shake her. Even though he puts up a front around her, he would probably be a little lost without her.

"So, who's the lucky lady, or gentlemen?" she asks while stealing a french fry from his tray.

He ignores her and subconsciously finds his eyes drifting back up to the – still snoozing – Petra.

"Petra Ral, eh?" Hange says as she follows his gaze. "Interesting," she continues. "I never took you for the guy to fall for a sweetheart like her."

"I'm not in love with her," he states with a scoff. He does not even know the girl. "Principal Smith is making me join the Survey Group."

"What?" Hange practically screams earning annoyed glances from those around them. "_You _are going to join the school's community service organization?" She laughs loudly, her whole body shaking hard enough that Levi thinks she will fall off of her chair.

"Oh my god," Hange continues and Levi debates just pushing her to the floor. "Trading in you gun for a trash picker-upper." At this point, Levi acts on his impulses and pushes the laughing woman so she land ass first on the ground.

"Shut up," he demands. He wants to say more, but the bell rings signaling the start of fifth period. He rises from his chair in time to see Petra rouse from her sleep. Her hair is mussed and a crease from the edge of her textbook is imprinted on her cheek. Levi watches as her location registers in her mind and hazel eyes widen slightly, but she just laughs it off as the blonde girl from before, Krista, leads her to their next class.

* * *

After school, he walks into room 104 only to find it empty except for a lone petite girl with a textbook open and the end of a pen in her mouth.

"You know," he begins and she looks up. "That's not very sanitary." He gestures to the pen in her mouth and her eyes widen slightly.

"Oh," she laughs a little. "It's a bad habit. Do you have those forms I gave you last week?"

"Right here," he sets the filled out papers in front of her and sneaks a peek at her textbook, Chemistry II.

"So, are you going to join us on Saturday?" she asks as a small group of students file in the room for the meeting.

"What?" Levi asks, distractedly staring at her incorrect answer for number three on her worksheet.

"The fundraiser at the mall that I told you about." She speaks slowly, trying to jog his memory.

"Oh, right," he says, not really answering the question, but she does not seem to notice as the amount of unoccupied chairs in the room lessen.

"Set up starts at eleven and clean up should be over by four." She scans over his forms and reaches into a box behind her. "Here," she hands him one of the signature green Survey Group t-shirts. "Wear this on Saturday and meet us in the food court."

He does not say anything, but turns to find an empty spot in the back of the room. He finds a chair and makes his way back to it, earning more than a few strange glances in the process.

Once he is seated, Petra stands up, does a quick head count and begins talking. She starts off by mentioning the success of some type of sale for some type of shelter. Then, she moves on to talk about the fundraiser on Saturday. She mentions the need for extra hands – her eyes coming to rest on Levi – and the other fine details involved.

He watches as her usual smile and understanding demeanor shifts to something very serious and authoritative. Just by watching the way she speaks, Levi can tell that she is very passionate about helping people.

Overall, the meeting continues much like this with different people suggesting ideas for future events while Petra jots them all down. She eventually asks everybody to start making posters for the event at the mall and gestures to a table at the back with paper, makers, and other things.

All the other members leap up from their chairs and begin gathering materials, chatting and joking all the while. Levi sits there awkwardly, thinking that there is no way in hell that he is going to make a poster. Instead, he saunters up to the front where Petra is still working on her chemistry worksheet and sits next to her.

"The answer to number three is reaction mechanism," he says, surprising her.

"What?" she says, confused by his sudden appearance.

"Number three on your worksheet is wrong. The correct answer is reaction mechanism."

She looks down at the worksheet and then back up. She studies him for a moment as if trying to figure out his motives before scribbling over her incorrect answer and writing 'reaction mechanism' next to it.

"I didn't know you were in chem II," she tells him, not mentioning his lack of poster making.

"I'm not," he replies. "I took it sophomore year."

"Hm," she responds, "You must be a clever to have been allowed to take it so early."

He shrugs modestly, not liking the shift of attention to himself.

"So how come somebody with so much potential chooses to spend his days in detention?" she asks and Levi feels the instant need to change the direction of the conversation.

"How come somebody as seemingly organized as you becomes sleep deprived and falls behind on homework?"

She does not answer, settling to glance at the clock.

"Okay everybody," she announces, causing several heads to turn their way. "That's it for today, thank you for attending."

She hugs some people goodbye, promising others that she will text them, before turning back to the table to find him still sitting there.

"Don't you have to get home?" she asks, as she takes the new posters and gathers up markers.

"I think I'm needed here more," he tells her in a tone that indicates there is no argument. "After all, the oxidation of a secondary alcohol results in a ketone, not an aldehyde."

A small smile creeps on her face as she approaches the table and corrects her mistake.

"So, now that I've given you some answers, I think you owe me some," Levi tells her as he leans back in his chair lazily.

"I work at a diner most days after school," she says as if admitting defeat.

"I thought you worked in the school office," Levi points out, his interest immediately peaked.

"I do both," she says before locking up cabinets and organizing more items in the room. "My shift at the diner is later in the evenings on most nights so I'm usually too tired to work on homework when I get home."

He stares at her curiously. How come this high school girl needs to work two jobs, especially during the school year?

"Which diner do you work at?" he asks, but she shakes her head.

"You gave me two answers and I gave you two answers," she closes the text book and tosses it into her bag. "I think that's enough for one day."

She ushers him out of the room before locking the door. "I'll see you on Saturday, okay?"

He nods and watches as she disappears down the hallway, her skirt swishing around her legs with each step, realizing that he now has plans for the weekend.

* * *

**_note: _**_guess who's almost done with finals! _


End file.
